Canberra may have had a wet weekend, but the capital’s rainfall figures are still well below the February average following a dry month.

Over the weekend Canberra had a total of about 15 millimetres of rain fall at the airport and 37 millimetres at Tuggeranong, which Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Allan Beattie said was the remnants of a tropical low pressure system that brought damaging winds, heavy falls and flooding to much of NSW’s northern and coastal areas.

Misty morning. Photo: Paul Jurak

“There was a rain band spiralling into the low, and that moved southwards and caused that rain yesterday at Canberra and also the heavy rain on the coast,” Mr Beattie said.

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Up until the weekend, Canberra had recorded just 6.2 millimetres of rain at the airport, well below the February average of 56.4 millimetres. Despite the late burst of rain for the month, Mr Beattie said it’s unlikely Canberra will reach that figure, as forecast showers are likely to be relatively light.

The dry is in stark contrast to February last year, when the capital had 127 millimetres of rain over the month.

With clear skies overnight, parts of Canberra woke to a light, short-lived fog which, at its thickest, reduced visibility to about 200 metres in some parts of the capital.

“It rained quite a bit yesterday and then the skies basically cleared again overnight, so we’ve had a fair bit of cooling again overnight, so it was pretty saturated. The fog formed right about sunrise,” Mr Beattie said.

“Post-rain fog is one of the more common events you have outside the fog season.”

The forecaster said the morning should remain reasonably clear, but light showers would probably resume in the afternoon, with the added possibility of thunderstorms.

It’s a pattern that will likely continue over Tuesday and Wednesday, before the chance of rain increases on Thursday.

3 comments

Gorgeous view from Bonner this morning; the top of a distant Mt Tennant like an island in a sea of fog.

Commenter

aliveandontheplanet

Location

Act

Date and time

February 25, 2013, 9:47AM

Attendance at the Show was also hit by the increase in parking to $10. Wet weather came in well after the start of the day.

Commenter

Outraged of Palmerston

Date and time

February 25, 2013, 11:55AM

Hopefully the first fog confirms the last three weeks of weather is the changing of seasons with a bit more regular rain and the end of last of the really bad fire conditions for this region....looking like good green growth while there's still a bit of heat around.